Angel/Destiny

Destiny
Season 5, Episode 8
Airdate	November 19, 2003
Production Number	5ADH08
Written by	David Fury & Steven S. DeKnight
Directed by	Skip Schoolnik
← 5x07 Lineage	5x09 → Harm's Way
Angel — Season Five

Destiny is the eighth episode of the fifth season of Angel, and the ninety-sixth episode overall. When a mysterious package makes Spike corporeal, the universe begins to unravel itself due to the presence of two vampires with souls.

David Boreanaz (Angel), James Marsters (Spike), J. August Richards (Charles Gunn), Amy Acker (Winifred "Fred" Burkle), Andy Hallett (Lorne)

and Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce) (credit only)

Guest Starring: Sarah Thompson (Eve), Mercedes McNab (Harmony Kendall), Juliet Landau (Drusilla)

Co-Starring: Michael Halsey (Sirk), Justin Connor (Jerry), Mark Kelly (Reese)

Uncredited: Christian Kane (Lindsey McDonald)

Plot Overview

All Hell breaks loose when Spike is suddenly made corporeal again. It's revealed to be due to the presence of now two ensoulled vampire champions in the world, leading Spike and Angel in a race to win the rightful recipient of the Shanshu prophecy.

Notes

Monster of the Week

There is no monster of the week in this episode.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Office	Jerry	Skull Bashed In	Copy Machine

Music

Music is listed in order of appearance in the episode:

• Dead Kennedys - "Too Drunk to Fuck"

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Wolfram & Hart: The white room and the conduit have been withdrawn by the senior partners in reaction to reality unraveling.

• Apocalypse: Because of the entrance of two vampires with souls into the game, the universe has been thrown far out of whack and begins to unravel itself. This is temporarily stopped by the Senior Partners, but unbeknownst to them, it was Lindsey McDonald causing all the problems.

Characters

• Spike: Spike is given corporeal form again due to a bizarre flash of light that came from Harmony opening a box postmarked to him.

• Lindsey: Lindsey has returned to Los Angeles with a whole mess of tattoos after leaving town in the second season. He's apparently positioning Angel and the Senior Partners against each other.

Referbacks

• BtVS - 6x22 - Grave: In order to regain his soul, Spike went through several tedious trials that tested his threshold for pain and fighting ability, among other things. Although he claims he went to get it to become a hero, in actuality he did it to try to win over Buffy.

Spike: But me... I fought for my soul. Went through the demon trials.

Trivia

The Show

• Chronology: The first flashback in this episode follows the flashback in "Darla" in which Drusilla bumped into William prior to turning him.

• M.I.A.: Wesley does not appear in this episode. This is the first and only time he has missed an episode since he joined the show in the first season. In reality, Alexis Denisof couldn't make the episode taping because he was getting married to Alyson Hannigan, otherwise known as Willow in Buffy and Angel.

Behind the Scenes

• Ratings: On its first airing, this episode scored a 4.2/6 in the overnight Nielsen ratings.

• Writers Fight: While writing this episode, the co-writers fought with each other over who would actually drink from the cup, even if it was just a trick. David Fury was pulling for Spike to win and Steven S. DeKnight wanted Angel to win. In the end, Fury got his version as the final, possibly because he was the show runner for the season.

• Investigation: This episode was cited by the Parents Television Council as a potential violation of FCC guidelines for network television due to Angelus moving his hips in a sexual fashion and Harmony biting Spike when they were about to have sex. On February 25, 2005, the claim was dismissed by the FCC (Zap2It News Link).

• Crazy Credits: Christian Kane is not credited in this episode in order to keep his return to the show a surprise.

Allusions and References

• The Music Man: Eve directly references a quote from the novel and musical by Meredith Willson, The Music Man. The original version is "Trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for pool," because several townspeople were worried about others playing too many games of billiards at a pool hall.

Eve: Upshot is we've got trouble with a capital "T," and that rhymes with "P," and that stands for "prophecy."

• Mountain Dew: Mountain Dew is a citrus flavored carbonated soda produced by PepsiCo. Unlike lemon-lime drinks like Sprite and 7-Up, Mountain Dew also includes concentrated orange juice and has a great deal more caffeine in it.

Spike: It's... Mountain Dew.

Quotes

• Drusilla: Look what I made. It's called Willy.

Spike: William.

• Angelus: You know Darla - Master's pet.

• Spike: At least give me Wesley's office, I mean, since he's gone.

Angel: He's not gone. He's on a leave of absence.

Spike: Yeah, right. Boo-hoo. Thought he killed his bloody father. Try staking your mother when she's coming on to you!

Harmony: Well, that explains a lot.

• (Spike grabs Harmony and kisses her)

Harmony: Get off!

Spike: That's the idea.

• William: It's like she's still got a bit of a child in her.

Angelus: Perhaps two or three by now.

• Eve: So there's a cup.

Spike: Perpetual torment? Just know that's not gonna taste very good.

• Angel: You took my Viper.

Spike: My Viper now, mate. Possession's nine-tenths. Oughta know that, runnin' a law firm and such.

• Angel: Is that what you think you are, a hero?

Spike: Saved the world, didn't I?

Angel: Once. Talk to me after you've done it a couple more times.

• Spike: Look at you, thinking you're the big saviour fighting for truth, justice, and soccer moms. But you still can't lay flesh on a cross without smelling like bacon, can you?

Angel: Like you're any different.

Spike: Well, that's just it. I am and you know it. You had a soul forced on you, as a curse, make you suffer for all the horrible things you'd done. But me - I fought for my soul. Went through the demon trials. Almost did me in a dozen times over, but I kept fighting 'cause I knew it was the right thing to do. It's my destiny.

Angel: Really? Heard it was just to get into a girl's pants.

• Spike: Take a long look, hero. I'm nothing like you!

Angel: No. You're less. That's why Buffy never really loved you, because you weren't me.

Spike: Guess that means she was thinking about you all those times I was puttin' it to her.